Game



J. R; VELASCO.

GAME.

APPLICATION EILED MAR, 20, I920.

Z w. m w w w 1..1 a" r a M d. m m

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOSE R. 'VELASCO, OF NOGALES, ARIZONA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO ARTURO FREYDIG, OF NOGALES, ARIZONA; i I

GAME.

T 0 all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, JOSF] R. VELASCO, a citizen of Mexico, residing at Nogales, in the county of Santa Cruz, State of Arizona, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Games; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and

exact description of the invention, such asv will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to games, and more especially to boards on which a game is played with surface projectiles.

The broad purpose of the invention is to produce a game whose board has a pocket herein called hell containing a ball or marble called the devil, and the object of the game is to dislodge the devil-from hell by use of a projected ball or taw which however must not lodge in hell. Incidentally there are a number of object balls contributed by the various players and which in play are successively driven off the board to eventually become the property of the one who wins the game.

Details of the preferred construction of the board and the preferred manner of playing the game are set forth below and shown in the drawings wherein:

Figure l is a perspective view showing how this game is played upon the ground.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional View through the center of the board.

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the board.

Fig. 4 is a sectional view showing a slightly modified form of the board.

The so-called board may be stamped from tin or other sheet metal or pressed or otherwise formed from wood, papier mach, or other material, and its body may be flat as seen at B in Fig. 2 or very slightly conical as seen at B in Fig. 4. At the center of the body the material is depressed to form a' pocket H, and if the body is laid on the ground G as seen in Fig. 2 the surface may be scooped out a little so that the depression enters it and the entire body lies exactly flat; whereas the conical body B in Fig. 4 may lie on a hard flat surface such as the floor F. which is touched by the bottom of the depression. The body is by preference circular and between one and two feet in diameter, and near its periphery it is formed with a gentle upstruck ridge R. Within this ridge the face of the body is marked with Specification ofv Letters Patent.

Application filed March 20, 1920. Serial No. 367,566.

.the edge of the pocket.

Patented Mar. 1, 1921.

is upstruck to form Ts T, preferably six in number in an inner ring and an additional six in an outer ring, .and these are numbered from 1 to 12 as shown. At the right of Fig. 4 the T T is shown as a separate block mounted on the body, but in any case its apex is cupped a trifle as shown at C,

so as to support balls or marbles O. The letter D designates a single ball indicating the devil, and the depth of the central pocket should be greater than the diameter of this ball so that the top of the latter does not rise above a plane trough the body around While it is of course possible to use balls instead of marbles and to have the played ball manipulated by hand or impelled-by a cue or mallet, the game is intended and described below to be played by youngsters who will use marbles, hence the reference to the played ball as the taw, which is frequently a pet and highly prized marble called the aggie. In either case (and especially so where the surface of the board B is slightly conical) it is not desirable that a ball or marble shall move too easily, and

accordingly the surface should be roughened slightly in any suitable manner. In Fig. 3 I have shown it ribbed atone point crosshatched at another, and stipple-d at another for sake of illustration. This detail is not essential, but it is preferred that the surface shall be slightly roughened rather than smooth, and the ridge R- should not be so pronounced as to prevent a marble being driven over it.

In playing the game a ring is drawn on the ground G or chalked on the floor F, perhaps two and one-half yards in diameter, and the board is disposed at the center of this ring. Some player lends a mar- .ble to serve as the devil D and to be later returned to him, .and this marble is placed in a pocket H. The players then advance marbles enough to occupy the number of TS they desire to use. Let us assume that there are three players, and they will advance four marbles each, putting them on the cupped upper ends G of all twelve Ts T. Having selected in some way the order of play, the first player now shoots with his taw from any point on the inclosing ring, aiming at the object marble O mounted on T N o. 1, his object being to drive that marble off the board. To do so he must hit it with sufficientforce to dislod e it and drives it out and his taw then caroms and hits another object marble and drives it out, he makes a double play and may take up both marbles; but if on direct shot or carom shot his taw falls into the pocket H, his

play has ended. Thus he continues playing, gathering up all the marbles he has driven off the board in proper order. He is followed by the second player, and then by the third player, and then the cycle is begun again. Thus while each player originally put in four marbles, one may take out nine, another three, and the third .none.

Yet the game is not won and finished until the devil has been driven out of hell, and this is really the sensational feature. If during the play as above given, any marble O is driven into the pocket H, it is immediately replaced on its proper T. Any player can bring the game to a close-by shootmg directly at the devil so as to drive it olfthe board, but to be successful his own taw must also roll off. In that case he wins the game and the other players must pay over to him all the marbles which they have removed. If in so seeking to drive out the devil his own ball should fall into the pocket H, he

has'lost the game and must "return to the Ts all the balls he has already shot out. Thus it will be seen that, after one player may have removed say eight or nine marbles, it becomes good policy on the part of the other players (and especially the one v who is away behind) to cease shooting at the object marbles and turn his attention to dislodging the marble D so that he may recover the marbles 0 already taken out by the player referred to.

While these rules are given as applying to one interesting way of playing the game, they may of course be modified without departing from the principle of theinvention as set forth in the claims below. The primary feature is, of course, a game board having Ts forpbject balls or marbles which are removed from play as they are successfully and successively dislodged, the board also having a pocket containing a ball or marble D whose dislodgment therefrom immediately brings the game to a close and establishes the ownership of the other marblesthus leaving it to the option of the several players whether they shall shoot at a ball or marble O or at the ball or marble D.

What is claimed is:

1. Theherein described game comprising a circular board having a depression at its center constituting a pocket, a seriesof upstanding Ts disposed in circles around said center and each with its upper end cupped, and a ridge adjacent the periphery. of the board; and balls for the pocket and cups.

2. The herein described game comprising a circular board having a depression at its center constituting a pocket, a series of upstanding Ts disposed around said center and each with its upper end cupped, and a ridge adjacent the periphery of the board; a ball for said pocket whose diameter is less than the depth thereof, and a series of object balls adapted to be mounted on said Ts.

3. A game board substantially as herein described,the same having a circular body slightly conical in shape and depressed at its center so that the depression and the periphery of the body will rest on a flat surface, the depression "constituting a central pocket, and upstanding Ts formed on the body around said pocket and cupped at their upper ends, the face of the body being roughened.

In testimon whereof, I have afiixed my signature, in t e presence of two witnesses.

- JOSE R. VELASCO. Witnesses: v

L, ESCOBAR, N. JIMENEZ, Jr. 

